Yashwant Sinha demands Nitin Gadkari's resignation

Nov 21, 2012, 02.29AM ISTTNN

BJP faces fresh embarrassment just ahead of its all-India protest against the government and the upcoming winter session of Parliament with senior leader Yashwant Sinha firing a salvo against party president Nitin Gadkari.

NEW DELHI: BJP faces fresh embarrassment just ahead of its all-India protest against the government and the upcoming winter session of Parliament with senior leader Yashwant Sinha firing a salvo against party president Nitin Gadkari.

Sinha on Tuesday demanded that Gadkari must quit without waiting for a formal verdict on allegations of irregularities leveled against the Purti group founded by him. Sinha's remarks echo Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani, his son Mahsh and BJP national executive member Jagdish Shettigar who have asked Gadkari to resign.

"Whether our party president is guilty or not is not the issue today. The issue is that all of us in public life should be beyond reproach... I call upon Nitin Gadkari, with all the humility at my command, to immediately step down from the post of party president," Sinha said.

The comments reignited the controversy over Gadkari's business dealings that has exposed factional fault lines in the BJP and RSS. While a section of BJP leaders feels he must step down to save the party from criticism that its campaign against corruption is duplicitous, others are arguing that the charges are yet to be established.

The extent to which the Gadkari affair has paralysed BJP was evident when a meeting of party leaders held on Tuesday morning to discuss parliamentary strategy skipped any reference to corruption. Deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde's reference to the blockade of the monsoon session over Coalgate failed to evoke any comment.

The silence, said sources, spoke volumes as the party wrestles with the contradictions of defending Gadkari against reports of questionable investments in Purti while also targeting Congress over a slew of corruption scandals.

Responding to the latest broadside against Gadkari, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "The party considers the statement issued by Sinha as inappropriate. The party would appeal to him to reconsider his stand."

Sinha's criticism seems well deliberated, with the leader saying, "BJP has always set the highest standard of conduct in the past which should be followed even now. We were a party with a difference earlier. We must continue to be a party with a difference even today and in the future."

As reprimands go, the rap handed out to Sinha is mild although it remains to be seen whether he will desist from further public attacks on Gadkari. Even if Sinha does not press his point further, there is every likelihood of demands being aired seeking the BJP chief's resignation.

The latest incidence of BJP's inner party turmoil is bound to cast a shadow on the party's protest on Wednesday with Gadkari himself slated to lead the show in Delhi. He was earlier supposed to be in Arunachal Pradesh but will now be in the capital, heightening the apprehensions of his party colleagues.

Renewed interest in BJP's internal matters is likely to see Congress hitting back when the main opposition raises scandals affecting the ruling party, including the controversies surrounding the businessman son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Sinha has made no secret of his unhappiness with Gadkari and reflects the impatience that some people feel over RSS bosses adopting a kid glove treatment towards their protege. The Sangh continues to take the view that it will not be guided by a "media trial."

The split in BJP has seen leaders backing Gadkari out of concern over the possible emergence of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi if Nagpur's man had to quit. BJP has so far accepted the "clean chit" given to Gadkari by chartered accountant S Gurumurthy - who is considered close to the RSS.

However, an apparent flip-flop by Gurumurthy - that was quickly corrected - only served to increase doubts in the minds of the party rank and file.

Both Sinha and Gadkari were present at meeting of the parliamentary party's executive committee at veteran leader L K Advani's residence on Tuesday morning.

After Sinha made his statement, BJP said various party forums were available to the senior leader for discussing the issue.

Jethmalani, while demanding Gadkari's resignation, had claimed the backing of BJP MPs Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Shatrughan Sinha. On Tuesday, Jethmalani said he was happy that Sinha has openly come out in his support.

Sinha said he was issuing his statement for Gadkari's resignation with a "great deal of sadness and regret and after exhausting the forums available" for him in the party.

"I am confident that the issue I am raising has merit and I have faith in the wisdom of the party to be able to deal with this issue. In fact, it is this faith which kept me from issuing this statement earlier. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts the party has been unable to take a decision in the matter," he said.

The former Union minister and MP from Hazaribagh said he was "greatly saddened" by the events over the last few weeks. "We have also deeply disappointed those who were looking towards us to fight the mind boggling corruption of the Congress party. We have no right to let down people of India... this is what we have done by taking the easy way out through a questionable method of self-certification," Sinha said referring to Gurumurthy's clean chit Gadkari.